http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40255643/
You'd never believe that you could create an addictive game in just two seconds with a swipe of your mouse.But that's what you do with Line Rider, an amusing Flash cartoon in which you become the animator. Just click "Play," then "Continue."
Draw a line and click the new Play button you see at the top of the window and you're in business.The game's creator, who goes by the handle of "fsk," suggests you start by drawing a line from upper left to upper right. But try drawing a gradual, smiley curve instead and see what happens to the little toboggan rider who careens down your slope.The game was just posted on Saturday but has already been played more than half a million times by fans around the world. It's another productivity enhancement from Deviant Art
Friday, September 29, 2006
Equipment Upgrade
One of the things I realised yesterday, was that I am completely useless when it comes to playing any iron lower than a 7... I tried to use the 3 and 5 irons and just could not control the shot at all - and that was only if I actually managed to get the ball off the floor in the first place.
The other things I found were... A golf bag with only a single should strap, is very uncomfortable to carry, A golf bag with a 7inch top makes it very tricky to get individual clubs out, and finally, A bag that will not stand up on it's own is a pain. Not that I can really complain, it was a freebie from Barry, and has done the required job till now.
So today I paid a visit to DirectGolf at Solihull, and after trying a few clubs on their range, decided upon a 'Founders Club - Double Sole, 24° Loft Fairway Wood"... It is a really nice club, and made hitting the ball from the floor as easy as hitting it off the tee. I managed to place several shots at about 150 yard, all on line!! It is the most expensive club I have purchased to date - by quite a large margin £80 including Head Cover (cw £20 for my putter, and £6 - £7 for each of my woods/Irons). That has now gone in my bag, and the 5, 3 and 1 Irons have been consigned to the "Spares" container.. Maybe Alex can use them in a few years time?
I also treated myself to a new bag - A "Founders Club - 14 way Deluxe Divider bag" in Red/Black, and a "Proline Neon Aluminium Trolley"
Now lets hope the weather improves on Monday morning, so I can go and test them all out at Warley Woods again!!
The other things I found were... A golf bag with only a single should strap, is very uncomfortable to carry, A golf bag with a 7inch top makes it very tricky to get individual clubs out, and finally, A bag that will not stand up on it's own is a pain. Not that I can really complain, it was a freebie from Barry, and has done the required job till now.
So today I paid a visit to DirectGolf at Solihull, and after trying a few clubs on their range, decided upon a 'Founders Club - Double Sole, 24° Loft Fairway Wood"... It is a really nice club, and made hitting the ball from the floor as easy as hitting it off the tee. I managed to place several shots at about 150 yard, all on line!! It is the most expensive club I have purchased to date - by quite a large margin £80 including Head Cover (cw £20 for my putter, and £6 - £7 for each of my woods/Irons). That has now gone in my bag, and the 5, 3 and 1 Irons have been consigned to the "Spares" container.. Maybe Alex can use them in a few years time?
I also treated myself to a new bag - A "Founders Club - 14 way Deluxe Divider bag" in Red/Black, and a "Proline Neon Aluminium Trolley"
Now lets hope the weather improves on Monday morning, so I can go and test them all out at Warley Woods again!!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
1st Round in Years!
This morning I visited the 9 hole golf course at "Warley Woods"... The first time I have been back there in almost 30 years!
My previous visit was during my final year at school, when I had Golf as my option in Games. On that occasion I scored a truly terrible 72 for 9 holes. I was hoping for a somewhat better score today!
Well, the score was better, but not good! I completed the 9 holes in 63... still some 30 over par. My first 7 Tee shots were terrible, but I did finally start to get it right towards the end of the round, but the main problem was the putting... I found it difficult to 'read' the green, and with the grass still quite damp, I had difficulty judging the weight of the shots and managed to take four on the green more that once!!
The last two holes were much better, the tee shots actually carried some distance (160 yards+) and had a nice 'fade' to their path... still screwed up on the green tho'.. LOL
7(4), 4(3), 7(4), 8(3), 9(3), 9(4), 8(4), 6(4), 5(4)
My previous visit was during my final year at school, when I had Golf as my option in Games. On that occasion I scored a truly terrible 72 for 9 holes. I was hoping for a somewhat better score today!
Well, the score was better, but not good! I completed the 9 holes in 63... still some 30 over par. My first 7 Tee shots were terrible, but I did finally start to get it right towards the end of the round, but the main problem was the putting... I found it difficult to 'read' the green, and with the grass still quite damp, I had difficulty judging the weight of the shots and managed to take four on the green more that once!!
The last two holes were much better, the tee shots actually carried some distance (160 yards+) and had a nice 'fade' to their path... still screwed up on the green tho'.. LOL
7(4), 4(3), 7(4), 8(3), 9(3), 9(4), 8(4), 6(4), 5(4)
Firefox 2 RC1
http://www.hardocp.com
Anyone interested in grabbing the Firefox 2 RC1 should head over to Cybernet and grab the version they need. Versions for Windows, Linux and Mac are all available so there is something for all you adventurous souls out there willing to try it out, regardless of the OS you are using.
There have been quite a few great visual changes going on since Firefox 2 Beta 2 was released. I think everyone will be much more pleased with how the theme is progressing as we head into the final homestretch. The tabs look much more streamlined and the navigation buttons don’t look so washed out. Oh, and we can’t forget about the cool new Refresh button in this release.
Anyone interested in grabbing the Firefox 2 RC1 should head over to Cybernet and grab the version they need. Versions for Windows, Linux and Mac are all available so there is something for all you adventurous souls out there willing to try it out, regardless of the OS you are using.
There have been quite a few great visual changes going on since Firefox 2 Beta 2 was released. I think everyone will be much more pleased with how the theme is progressing as we head into the final homestretch. The tabs look much more streamlined and the navigation buttons don’t look so washed out. Oh, and we can’t forget about the cool new Refresh button in this release.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The Car Saga...
OK...
Since returning from Turkey, the car had shown a disturbing reluctance to start from cold, this coupled with a month or so of 'rough running' on tickover, and the fact that the [Service] light was comming on intermittently persuaded me to book it in for it's 1st service. The car has only done 15,000 miles in it's 18 months, so it was still some 3000 miles or 6 months away from a service, but 'what the heck' I thought... it has to go in for the door mirror repair, so I may as well do both at the same time.
On Saturday 26th of August, I had to go to the dealers to pre-pay for the mirror, and booked the car in for both jobs to be done on Friday 1st September (I had a days leave on that day, to be able to deal with it easily.)
On Monday 28th we took a trip to Lofty's house in Cambridge for his daughters birthday party, and were a little concerned when it took 5 attempts to get it started for the return journey. Once going, however, the car was fine and made light work of the high speed (70mph) journey back (A14 & M6).
On Tuesday 29th, Amanda tried to start the car to take Amy to Merry Hill (A Hot date with Harry !!) but it did not want to know. She then called the AA, who also failed to start the vehicle. The car was then towed away by the AA to the Dealers in Birmingham. (Amy got the bus and still met up with Harry, so that was OK) On the downside, there was no dealership courtesy car available, and as the vehicle was over 12 months old Renault would not cover the cost of a hire car.
On Thursday, the garage called to say that they still could not start the car, and that it would not be ready for collection on Friday as they needed to remove the cylinder head for more investigation - No compression in one cylinder!
On Tuesday 5th September I was called by the dealers, Renault had agreed to a complete replacement unit I.E. A new engine!! This would have to be ordered and fitted, and as such would take about a week. At this point we were offered the use of a hire car, which would be covered by Renault. On Thursday I collected the Nasan Micra 1.4 from Enterprise in Birmingham.
On Friday 6th, upon returning home at 17:30 I found a message on the answering machine asking me to contact the dealers re the hire car. I called back, but was unable to talk to the person I needed to, so a message was left for him to call me back.
On Monday 11th, Tony returned my call... it seems that Renault only cover the Car Hire whilst the components are ON ORDER, but as the engine arrived on Friday, I needed to return the car ASAP and that I was liable for thr weekend hire!! After some discussion, it wsa agreed that the dealers would cover the additionanal charges, so I spoke to Enterprise and took private hire of the same vehicle for an additional two days (at the Dealerships corperate rate of £15 per day)
On Tuesday 12th at about 16:00, I was informed that the car was ready for collection, and agreed to pick it up on Wednesday at about lunchtime. Unfortunately, I have an appointment on Wednesday AM for British Gas to come and fix a problem with my boiler... so I can't leave the house till after that has been done, and may well have to pay for an addition days car hire on the Micra, as that was due back at 11:00!! And to add insult to injury, I still have to pay for (most of) a service to maintain the warrantee (Air con. pollen fillters, brakes etc.) some £230
UPDATE #1: The very nice people at Enterprise didn't charge me extra, even tho' I was almost 2 hours late returning the car, and they gave me a lift back to the dealers - which was good of them.
UPDATE #2: Seems that Renault Birmingham have 'missplaced' the door mirror that I have paid for, and as such have not been able to fit it to the vehicle. I am now awaiting a call back from them to let me know when I can take the car back to have it fitted!! I don't think I will be taking my custom back to that dealership again...
Since returning from Turkey, the car had shown a disturbing reluctance to start from cold, this coupled with a month or so of 'rough running' on tickover, and the fact that the [Service] light was comming on intermittently persuaded me to book it in for it's 1st service. The car has only done 15,000 miles in it's 18 months, so it was still some 3000 miles or 6 months away from a service, but 'what the heck' I thought... it has to go in for the door mirror repair, so I may as well do both at the same time.
On Saturday 26th of August, I had to go to the dealers to pre-pay for the mirror, and booked the car in for both jobs to be done on Friday 1st September (I had a days leave on that day, to be able to deal with it easily.)
On Monday 28th we took a trip to Lofty's house in Cambridge for his daughters birthday party, and were a little concerned when it took 5 attempts to get it started for the return journey. Once going, however, the car was fine and made light work of the high speed (70mph) journey back (A14 & M6).
On Tuesday 29th, Amanda tried to start the car to take Amy to Merry Hill (A Hot date with Harry !!) but it did not want to know. She then called the AA, who also failed to start the vehicle. The car was then towed away by the AA to the Dealers in Birmingham. (Amy got the bus and still met up with Harry, so that was OK) On the downside, there was no dealership courtesy car available, and as the vehicle was over 12 months old Renault would not cover the cost of a hire car.
On Thursday, the garage called to say that they still could not start the car, and that it would not be ready for collection on Friday as they needed to remove the cylinder head for more investigation - No compression in one cylinder!
On Tuesday 5th September I was called by the dealers, Renault had agreed to a complete replacement unit I.E. A new engine!! This would have to be ordered and fitted, and as such would take about a week. At this point we were offered the use of a hire car, which would be covered by Renault. On Thursday I collected the Nasan Micra 1.4 from Enterprise in Birmingham.
On Friday 6th, upon returning home at 17:30 I found a message on the answering machine asking me to contact the dealers re the hire car. I called back, but was unable to talk to the person I needed to, so a message was left for him to call me back.
On Monday 11th, Tony returned my call... it seems that Renault only cover the Car Hire whilst the components are ON ORDER, but as the engine arrived on Friday, I needed to return the car ASAP and that I was liable for thr weekend hire!! After some discussion, it wsa agreed that the dealers would cover the additionanal charges, so I spoke to Enterprise and took private hire of the same vehicle for an additional two days (at the Dealerships corperate rate of £15 per day)
On Tuesday 12th at about 16:00, I was informed that the car was ready for collection, and agreed to pick it up on Wednesday at about lunchtime. Unfortunately, I have an appointment on Wednesday AM for British Gas to come and fix a problem with my boiler... so I can't leave the house till after that has been done, and may well have to pay for an addition days car hire on the Micra, as that was due back at 11:00!! And to add insult to injury, I still have to pay for (most of) a service to maintain the warrantee (Air con. pollen fillters, brakes etc.) some £230
UPDATE #1: The very nice people at Enterprise didn't charge me extra, even tho' I was almost 2 hours late returning the car, and they gave me a lift back to the dealers - which was good of them.
UPDATE #2: Seems that Renault Birmingham have 'missplaced' the door mirror that I have paid for, and as such have not been able to fit it to the vehicle. I am now awaiting a call back from them to let me know when I can take the car back to have it fitted!! I don't think I will be taking my custom back to that dealership again...
Monday, September 04, 2006
Mrs D South...
There you are, my sister is no longer Deborah Bright, but is now Mrs Mark South...
The wedding was yesterday, held at the Mill Hotel at Alverley. On the whole the day went well, and the service was nice and informal (well at least, as informal as a wedding is allowed to be), and I did not miss the Singing of hymns etc. in the slightest.
There was a touching moment when Mark had to choke back his emotions during the "I give you this ring as a symbol of our marriage" bit, but he got through it and all ended well.
The photographer could have done with a bit more help trying to round everyone up, but that is a problem you are going to get when you have such a large area of gardens and hotel for people to get lost (or hide?) in... He was using a Nikon D70, and carried a D50 as his back up :-)
The buffet afterwards was excellent, and if that is typical of the standards of the Mill, we may have to go back for a meal some time!
There was one moment that took the edge off the festivities, Deb & Marks first dance was to "Who painted the Moon black" by Hayley Westenra, this was one of Amanda's dads favourite songs (Hayley was played at his funeral) and a combination of wedding memories, and Hayley was a little too much for Carol to cope with... Note, this was not Deb being insensitive, they had spoken to Carol weeks before and asked if she was OK with the choice of music, and she had agreed... you just can't always control your feelings
Our car is still in the garage, so Carol took us down there, before returning to dudley to collect my mom and Val... Thanks Carol, you are a star. We left with the party still in full swing just before 8:00PM, borrowing my Brother-in-Law's car to get back home, a Ford Mondeo, that compared to the Scenic drove like a tank!! But it is greatly appreciated, and thanks again...
The wedding was yesterday, held at the Mill Hotel at Alverley. On the whole the day went well, and the service was nice and informal (well at least, as informal as a wedding is allowed to be), and I did not miss the Singing of hymns etc. in the slightest.
There was a touching moment when Mark had to choke back his emotions during the "I give you this ring as a symbol of our marriage" bit, but he got through it and all ended well.
The photographer could have done with a bit more help trying to round everyone up, but that is a problem you are going to get when you have such a large area of gardens and hotel for people to get lost (or hide?) in... He was using a Nikon D70, and carried a D50 as his back up :-)
The buffet afterwards was excellent, and if that is typical of the standards of the Mill, we may have to go back for a meal some time!
There was one moment that took the edge off the festivities, Deb & Marks first dance was to "Who painted the Moon black" by Hayley Westenra, this was one of Amanda's dads favourite songs (Hayley was played at his funeral) and a combination of wedding memories, and Hayley was a little too much for Carol to cope with... Note, this was not Deb being insensitive, they had spoken to Carol weeks before and asked if she was OK with the choice of music, and she had agreed... you just can't always control your feelings
Our car is still in the garage, so Carol took us down there, before returning to dudley to collect my mom and Val... Thanks Carol, you are a star. We left with the party still in full swing just before 8:00PM, borrowing my Brother-in-Law's car to get back home, a Ford Mondeo, that compared to the Scenic drove like a tank!! But it is greatly appreciated, and thanks again...
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